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Thomas Fujiwara

Thomas Fujiwara

Thomas Fujiwara is an Assistant Professor of Economics at Princeton University. His research examines the role of political factors in shaping public policy, especially in developing countries. It seeks to understand why elected officials fail to provide adequate services and how the design of the electoral process can influence policymaking. For example, he has studied the introduction of electronic voting that facilitated voting and promoted the de facto enfranchisement of millions of poorer Brazilians, showing that it shifted policymaking in a way that led to tangible benefits to the poor. He has also studied voter behavior more broadly, including the role of strategic coordination by voter in elections, the role of habit in voter turnout, and how voters respond to campaign messages in field experiments in Benin and the Philippines. Fujiwara holds a BA and MA in Economics from the University of Sao Paulo, and received his PhD in Economics from the University of British Columbia in 2011.